IRELAND 2009

Ireland October 2009

Find an album of photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nichols70/Ireland2009#

Brenda and I spent three enjoyable weeks in Ireland being with family, walking the Wicklow Way, walking around Dublin City, and visiting Belfast and the Giants Causeway.

The Family       (left: in the Dalton kitchen)

We were offered a loft bedroom by the Dalton family, Brendas niece Bernadette and Niel and four kids. We had a blast participating in the hectic life of a family on the go, the twin boys Jeff and James in College, the twin 10 year old girls Julie and Nicole going off to school, and Niel playing housedad (after 30 years with the phone company), and doing DJ gigs for charity and for pay.

Bernadette is a working mom training personnel at a  bank. It was a hurricane that we greatly enjoyed. We helped with girls homework, and played games with them and  stayed up late chatting.

Singing pubs are an old tradition in Ireland, with many people getting up to sing a favorite tune. We went with brother Eamonn and partner Eileen. Brenda sang and Eamonn played harmonica and sang, and I drank a lot of Guinness, which should only be consumed when in Ireland. The singing pubs are dying out because only older folks seem to go.

left: Brenda and Eamonn dancing

Flanagans is a lively old place on historic O'Connell Street close to the General Post Office (scene of the 1916 uprising). We meant sisters Lori and Phyllis, and Eamonn, and sister in laws Bridgett and Ina for lunch one day. The three hour lunch was filled with funny recollections of times past, and lots of gentle teasing.

Brendas old friend Mary and her husband Jerry, from the teenage years, invited us over for dinner and some good crack about the old days.

Our last night was spent at niece Ann and Andys place out in the country.  We got a look at a 12th century ruins, had a lovely dinner, and a chat. Next day Ann took us to the airport, where she asked her Air Lingus co-workers to take care of us on the plane, so we got roomy bulkhead seating and free wine. Thanks Anne.

Glendalough

The Wicklow Way

Our Wicklow Mountain walking trip took us from the edge of Dublin to Shillelagh, about 80 miles total, in six days. The going was easy, walking over ridges, into river valleys, through moorlands and past historic places like the 12th century monastic city of Glendalough. We got drenched one day, but it was dry otherwise. The welcoming B&Bs and hostels treated very well. At the Woodstock B&B in Roundwood Village the owner sat us down to tea, soup and bread and talked with us for an hour nonstop. Warm, friendly and talkative sums up the Irish character. When a group get going in conversation it's called "good crack".

It's Not the Pants, It's the People, or how I lost expensive rain pants, and the pants found me.

After a 15 mile day of hiking, we checked out 17th century Glenmalure Lodge and decided to hitch to the next hamlet of Greenan and get a B&B. The driver overshot the place and we got dropped about a mile past, so we started walking back along a pleasant country lane. At the intersection, after not liking the BB, we thumbed to the nearby town of Rathdrum. Our angel, Ann Marie, dropped us right at the hostel. She told us she had walked all over the Wicklow Mtns. so understood what we were doing. She agreed to take us back to Glenmalure in the morning. In the hostel I discovered I'd lost my good rain pants. The kind proprietor helped me find phone numbers of several places I might have left them, and let me use his cell. But no luck.

Ann Marie picked us up in the morning and we had a very nice chat. So off we went walking to Moyne, 15 miles away. We found the last room available in the area at the Kyle Farmhouse B&B. It was really a nice, comfortable place and a working dairy farm at that. At dinner, served by the owner, she asked if we were Richard and Brenda, because if so we had a phone call. This was a mystery, because no one could know where we were. On the phone was Ann Marie , and she asked if we found my rain pants, because she had just found a pair. Astounded, they were indeed my pants. Their dog had brought them into the house. She then told us that her husband

saw us the day before in Greenan in front of their house, looking confused. We must have stopped there, where I dropped the pants. So Marie Ann, we discovered, had come to our rescue. To finish off this act of kindness, she brought the pants to us at Kyle that very night.

The moral to this tale is simple: the pants were not important, but the caring people were, so thank you Ann Marie for your simple act of kindness.

Bobby Sand Mural, The Falls

Belfast, Northern Ireland

A three hour bus ride took us to Belfast where we stayed at the home of Brendas niece Norma (Eamonns daughter), while she was away. We spent a day walking around Belfast City center, and then walked out to the nearby districts of Falls Road (the Falls) and Shankill Road (the Shankill). These two roads, separated by only 1/4 miles near the city center, is ground zero for what became known as The Troubles, the urban and rural widespread battle between Catholics (who wanted union with Ireland and equal rights) and protestants, who wanted to remain in the UK and keep the catholics at bay. Into the middle of the war the British army made things worse. This war between the Unionist Irish Republican Army and loyalist Ulster Defense Association and various splinter groups, and the British army went on for 40 years, only winding down through hard negotiating in around 2000. Down the middle of the two areas the British constructed a massive fence to keep the combatants apart. The place is peaceful now, but the murals depicting the troubles abound.

The Giants Causeway

This World Heritage Site is an impressive formation of basalt columns rising out of the sea and along the cliffs for two miles. We spent several hours walking around before getting the bus back to Belfast. The pictures tell the story.

Howth Head (as in hoe)

Our last walk was the 9 mile loop around the head. The train drops you off at the trailhead and the loop brings you back. The rainbow we chased was a highlight, as was the atmospheric weather and pretty scenery.

Brenda chasing the rainbow